The prosecution asks that the defense be precluded from asking #StormyDaniels whether she was arrested. Justice #Merchan agrees w/the prosecutors, saying that “anybody can be arrested” & that it “doesn’t prove anything.”
The people call Stormy Daniels back to the stand
#Trump atty #Necheles begins questioning by saying that in 2011, Daniels denied having had sex w/Trump.
The prosecutor asks #Westerhout: "Was it your understanding that Mr. Trump & Mr. Cohen had a close relationship in 2017?"
Westerhout: “At that time, yes." She's now reading an email between herself & #MichaelCohen in which she's asking for his info in order to have him cleared to enter the #WhiteHouse. "Mr. Cohen was coming in to meet with the president," she adds.
A different email is presented from #Westerhout to #RhonaGraff, saying that #Trump - who often calls the media “the enemy of the people" - proudly sent a NYT photo of himself boarding Air Force One for the first time to his family & wanted Weisselberg to see it.
In addition to corroborating a lot of other testimony, Westerhout links that testimony to what she saw Trump do while he was in the WH. Stapled packets of checks & invoices were sent to the WH to sign.
#Westerhout testifies that she sometimes saw #Trump sign checks in his office, & that he signed them individually by hand.
Rhona Graff, Trump's fmr TrumpOrg asst, asked whether he wanted to suspend a golf club membership or pay his dues, which totaled ~$6k. Westerhout says she passed this question along to him in a stack of checks he was given. Trump responded himself, by hand, asking that Graff pay the membership. Trump —while president— did not ignore ANYTHING to do w/money.
The point is that #Trump paid attention to financial minutiae. The cost of the golf membership that he was personally signing off on was less than 20% of the amount of each check he sent to #MichaelCohen to reimburse the #HushMoney payment.
The prosecution is effectively asking the jury to consider whether it's plausible that Trump would scrutinize a minor payment in the $6k range but be ignorant of the details of multiple checks for $35k each.
#Westerhout is testifying about how important #Trump's wife, #Melania, is to him, echoing #HopeHicks as she says they had a relationship of "mutual respect" & Trump cared a lot about his wife's opinion. "There was really no one else who could put him in his place," she laughs, addressing the jury directly. "He was my boss but she was definitely the one in charge."
Then Westerhout starts to cry as she recounts her experience of being forced out of the WH for being indiscreet.
#Westerhout is the 2nd fmr Trump aide to cry during this trial. 🥱 The first was #HopeHicks, whose desk was right near Westerhout's outside the Oval Office.
The DA is using people who were very close to Trump in order to build their case that he committed #crimes. Both Westerhout & Hicks were witnesses sympathetic to Trump but still delivered damaging testimony against him.
Westerhout has made it very clear how much she cares about & respects Trump. 🙄
#Westerhout’s testimony - including about the email scheduling the meeting w/ #MichaelCohen & #Trump's close attention to his finances while in the White House are very bad for her fmr boss.
Prosecution is done.
Trump lawyer, #Necheles cross-examines Westerhout, she brings up the fact that Trump wasn't Westerhout’s preferred candidate when he was elected president.
Many people have described her as crying on election night.
#Necheles describes the release of the #AccessHollywood tape as one of a number of events that rattled the #Trump campaign, & through which he stayed calm while others were "freaking out." She is trying to normalize his reaction to the tape.
Necheles is also using Westerhout’s testimony to present Trump as a nice boss & a family man. She’s also portraying Westerhout as young, out of her depth & unfamiliar w/the details of the materials she was handling on Trump's behalf.
The defense is asking for a mistrial & that #Trump be allowed to respond in public (not court) to #StormyDaniels's testimony. To be clear. Trump is asking the court to lift the #legal restrictions of the #GagOrder, so he can publicly attack a witness’s testimony.
#Trump has sought maximum press coverage of this trial, & now his atty Todd #Blanche is complaining about the press coverage of #StormyDaniels's testimony.
Blanche says that Trump will get asked about Daniels & won't be able to answer because of his #GagOrder.
Blanche concludes & Chris Conroy, a prosecutor, responds, saying the defense team seem to almost live "in an alternate reality." He says the gag order was designed to protect the trial & has been eftective thus far.
Prosecutor Chris Conroy is laying out the challenge facing the critics & opponents who have sought to hold #Trump accountable. He has the protections of a candidate, & a number of people who support him think his rights have been stripped. But if he isn't #gagged, the #witnesses face greater #harassment & #intimidation.
#Blanche is now arguing that #StormyDaniels's testimony about her sexual encounter w/Trump differed from when she told her story previously.
Justice #Merchan encouraged the defense lawyers when they moved for a #mistrial on Tuesday to address any disparities by cross-examining #StormyDaniels. But Daniels has been off the stand for hours, & #Blanche is now seeking to make these points to the judge — & the news media. The judge isn't buying it. "I fail to understand" he says, how this is "an alternate set of facts."
#Merchan says he is concerned, not only w/protecting #StormyDaniels & other #witnesses who have testified, but w/protecting those who have yet to testify & protecting the proceedings as a whole. The judge says that he himself wrote down a version of Conroy's argument "I can't take your word for it that, 'no no, this is going to be low key," Merchan says, referring to the comments #Trump would make if the #GagOrder was altered. "That's just not the track record."
Trump leans forward & glares at the judge as he denies the motion.
Now Todd #Blanche is arguing for a #mistrial, again. Trump's lawyers have been known to call for multiple mistrials in the course of a proceeding. It could exhaust the judge’s patience, & lose credibility.
Steinglass also criticized Blanche's colleague Susan #Necheles's cross-examination of #StormyDaniels, calling it "very thorough but somewhat misleading" & hardcore [#SlutShaming ]
Prosecutor #Steinglass says that the details of Daniels's story before & during the sexual act corroborate her account, & show the fact that sex happened, which increases the motivation to silence her.
#Steinglass said that the details elicited about the sex act were important because they corroborated other parts of #StormyDaniels's story. For instance, at their non-dinner before having sex, acc/to Daniels, Trump asked her about safe-sex practices in the porn industry. Prosecutors later asked Daniels whether Trump used a condom. Steinglass argues that fewer than 10 questions actually elicited salacious details.
#Steinglass concludes: "The defense has not alleged anything remotely approaching grounds for a #mistrial & their motion should be denied."
Justice #Merchan begins to address the mistrial motion. He says that after ruling against the defense's request for a mistrial on Tues, he went back & reviewed many of his past decisions, studying them in his chambers. He says that he came away satisfied.
#Merchan says that at every trial, the evidence comes in a different way. Why is he saying that now, he asks? Because in going back to opening statements, he sees that the defense "denied that there was ever a sexual encounter between Stormy Daniels & the defendant."
Merchan is saying defense opened the door to Daniels's testimony. He’s suggesting that what the prosecution did in response was appropriate.
#Merchan is effectively saying here that #Trump's position of totally denying the sexual encounter w/ #StormyDaniels opened the door for prosecution to introduce specific evidence that it did occur.
Judge also concern themselves w/being overturned on appeals, which can be embarrassing, especially in a high-stakes trial. By saying he went back & reviewed his own decision, Merchan sends a signal to appeals judges, that he took that first motion for a mistrial seriously.
Justice #Merchan criticizes defense for not #objecting to #testimony that was later used in a motion for #mistrial. He says he agrees that the question about whether #Trump wore a condom should not have been asked or answered. But he says he does not know "why on earth” defense atty #Necheles didn't object to that question.
Not only is Merchan signaling that he will likely reject defense’s mistrial motion, but he's dressing down their lawyering in front of their client.
#Merchan even criticized specific lines of defense’s cross-examination, chiding #Necheles in particular for leaning into the most awkward & uncomfortable parts of #StormyDaniels's testimony w/her questions in a way that he says he simply didn't understand.
[remember, the jury isn’t there]
After insisting to the defense that he barred certain details "to protect your client," Justice Merchan says, "I disagree w/your narrative that there's any new account here."
#Merchan cites specific issues w/the defense's arguments, saying that instead of denying the falsification of business records, they denied the sex w/ #StormyDaniels. [THANK YOU!]
"That in my mind allows the people to do what they can to rehabilitate her & to corroborate her story. Your motion for a mistrial is denied," he concludes.
President Biden delivered a ferocious condemnation of criminal defendant Donald Trump, ahead of the third anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, warning that Trump directed an insurrection and will aim to undo the nation’s bedrock democracy if he returns to power.
TODAY: Feds seek 3-years prison in Jan 6 case of Alex Harkrider
They say he "admitted to wearing body armor (w/ a plate carrier).. described the tomahawk axe he admitted to carrying as a 'tactical stick'..described walking around the evening of January 5 to 'check out the area.